= Django Forum Apps Comparison =

'''Important:''' This page is obsolete since [http://djangopackages.com/ djangopackages.com] started hosting "grid" pages for comparing Django apps. Please add any information about Django forum apps on the [http://djangopackages.com/grids/g/forums/ Forums grid]. Also, please migrate any missing information from this page to the grid. Fully migrated data should be removed from this page.

Background about this page: Yvan Seth's blog entry [http://yvan.seth.id.au/Entries/Technology/Code/Django_Forum_Software.html Django Forum Software] from December 2007 listed a few well-known discussion forum applications for Django back then. This page continued on the same tracks and tried to gather a comparison of essential features in those applications.

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{{{
#!html
<table class="listing">
  <caption>Features evaluated</caption>
  <thead>
    <tr>
      <td>Feature</td>
      <td>Description</td>
    </tr>
  </thead>
  <tbody>
    <tr>
      <td>demo</td>
      <td>
	If the application has a public demo site, a link and
	login/password are given.
      </td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>guest-post</td>
      <td>Visitors can post messages without registration.</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>notify</td>
      <td>
	An administrator can be notified by E-mail and/or SMS about
	new messages. Note that this feature should be trivial to add
        to most apps with signals and external code only.
      </td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>pre-moderate</td>
      <td>
	It's possible to hide new messages until they are approved by
	an administrator.
      </td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>post-moderate</td>
      <td>
	The app provides a user interface for removing messages.
      </td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>comment</td>
      <td>
	Any Django model instance can have a message thread attached to it.
      </td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>forum</td>
      <td>
	The app provides the concept of a forum inside which message
	threads are grouped.
      </td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>title</td>
      <td>
	Individual messages can have their own titles.
      </td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>modify</td>
      <td>
	Users can modify messages.
      </td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>msg-history</td>
      <td>
	When message are modified, everyone can see the change history.
      </td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>private</td>
      <td>
	Users can send private messages to other users.
      </td>
    </tr>
  </tbody>
</table>
}}}

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{{{
#!html
<table class="listing">
  <caption>Summary of major Django forum/discussion apps and their support for the above features</caption>
  <thead>
    <tr>
      <td>Application</td>
      <td>Author(s)</td>
      <td>License</td>
      <td title="Link to demo with login/password">demo</td>
      <td title="Visitors can post without registering">guest-post</td>
      <td title="E-mail/SMS Notification / Thread Subscription">notify</td>
      <td title="Moderator can accept/reject messages before they are published">pre-moderate</td>
      <td title="User interface for removing messages">post-moderate</td>
      <td title="Attach threadns to any Django model instance">comment</td>
      <td title="Threads grouped in forums">forum</td>
      <td title="Titles for individual messages">title</td>
      <td title="Users can modify messages">modify</td>
      <td title="Message change history available to all">msg-history</td>
      <td title="Private messages to other users">private</td>
    </tr>
  </thead>
  <tbody>
<tr>
      <td><a href="http://askbot.org/en/questions/" 
             title="Askbot">Askbot</a></td>
      <td>Evgeny Fadeev</td>
      <td>GNU GPL</td>
      <td title="demo"><a href="http://askbot.org/en/questions/" 
             title="Askbot">Support forum</a></td>
      <td title="guest-post">no</td>
      <td title="notify">yes</td>
      <td title="pre-moderate">no</td>
      <td title="post-moderate">yes</td>
      <td title="comment">yes</td>
      <td title="forum">yes</td>
      <td title="title">yes</td>
      <td title="modify">yes</td>
      <td title="msg-history">yes</td>
      <td title="private">no</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td><a href="http://code.djangoproject.com/wiki/UsingFreeComment" 
             title="django.contrib.comments">contrib.comments</a></td>
      <td>Django authors</td>
      <td>?</td>
      <td title="demo">?</td>
      <td title="guest-post">yes</td>
      <td title="notify">no?</td>
      <td title="pre-moderate">?</td>
      <td title="post-moderate">?</td>
      <td title="comment">?</td>
      <td title="forum">?</td>
      <td title="title">?</td>
      <td title="modify">?</td>
      <td title="msg-history">?</td>
      <td title="private">?</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td><a href="http://djangobb.org/"
             title="Django Bulletin Board">DjangoBB</a></td>
      <td>Alexey Afinogenov, <a href="http://slav0nic.org.ua/">Sergey Maranchuk</a></td>
      <td>BSD</td>
      <td title="demo"><a href="http://support.djangobb.org/">Forum in use</a></td>
      <td title="guest-post">no</td>
      <td title="notify">yes</td>
      <td title="pre-moderate">no</td>
      <td title="post-moderate">yes</td>
      <td title="comment">yes</td>
      <td title="forum">yes</td>
      <td title="title">yes</td>
      <td title="modify">yes</td>
      <td title="msg-history">yes</td>
      <td title="private">yes</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td><a href="http://code.google.com/p/django-comment-utils/" 
             title="django.contrib.comments with django-comment-utils">comment-utils</a></td>
      <td>James Bennett</td>
      <td>BSD</td>
      <td title="demo">?</td>
      <td title="guest-post">?</td>
      <td title="notify">?</td>
      <td title="pre-moderate">?</td>
      <td title="post-moderate">?</td>
      <td title="comment">?</td>
      <td title="forum">?</td>
      <td title="title">?</td>
      <td title="modify">?</td>
      <td title="msg-history">?</td>
      <td title="private">?</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td><a href="http://code.google.com/p/django-threadedcomments"
             title="django-threadedcomments">django-threadedcomments</a></td>
      <td>Eric Florenzano</td>
      <td>BSD</td>
      <td title="demo"><a href="http://www.eflorenzano.com/threadexample/blog/">Here</a></td>
      <td title="guest-post">yes</td>
      <td title="notify">yes</td>
      <td title="pre-moderate">yes</td>
      <td title="post-moderate">yes</td>
      <td title="comment">yes</td>
      <td title="forum">no</td>
      <td title="title">no</td>
      <td title="modify">yes</td>
      <td title="msg-history">no</td>
      <td title="private">no</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td><a href="http://code.google.com/p/django-forum/" 
             title="Simple Django Forum Component">django-forum</a></td>
      <td>Ross Poulton</td>
      <td>BSD</td>
      <td title="demo">Soon</td>
      <td title="guest-post">no</td>
      <td title="notify">yes</td>
      <td title="pre-moderate">no</td>
      <td title="post-moderate"><span title="in Django admin">yes *</span></td>
      <td title="comment">no</td>
      <td title="forum">yes</td>
      <td title="title">no</td>
      <td title="modify">no</td>
      <td title="msg-history">no</td>
      <td title="private">no</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td><a href="http://code.google.com/p/counterpoint"
             title="forum written with django">counterpoint</a></td>
      <td>Collin Grady</td>
      <td>MIT</td>
      <td title="demo">no</td>
      <td title="guest-post">no</td>
      <td title="notify">no</td>
      <td title="pre-moderate">no</td>
      <td title="post-moderate">yes</td>
      <td title="comment">no</td>
      <td title="forum">yes</td>
      <td title="title">?</td>
      <td title="modify">yes</td>
      <td title="msg-history">no</td>
      <td title="private">no</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td><a href="http://www.jonathanbuchanan.plus.com/repos/forum"
             title="Jonathan's Django Forum">Django Forum</a></td>
      <td>Jonathan Buchanan</td>
      <td>?</td>
      <td title="demo">?</td>
      <td title="guest-post">no</td>
      <td title="notify">no</td>
      <td title="pre-moderate">no</td>
      <td title="post-moderate">yes</td>
      <td title="comment">no</td>
      <td title="forum">yes</td>
      <td title="title">no</td>
      <td title="modify">?</td>
      <td title="msg-history">?</td>
      <td title="private">?</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td><a href="http://code.google.com/p/snapboard"
             title="S(imple), N(imble), A(ttractive), P(ython) board">snapboard</a></td>
      <td>Bo Shi, JW Mayfield</td>
      <td>BSD</td>
      <td title="demo"><a href="http://snapboard.deadpuck.net/">Forum in use</a></td>
      <td title="guest-post">no</td>
      <td title="notify">no</td>
      <td title="pre-moderate">no</td>
      <td title="post-moderate">yes</td>
      <td title="comment">no</td>
      <td title="forum">yes <span title="categories">*</span></td>
      <td title="title">no</td>
      <td title="modify">yes</td>
      <td title="msg-history">yes</td>
      <td title="private">yes</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td><a href="http://code.google.com/p/diamanda"
             title="Diamanda “MyghtyBoard” FORUM">MyghtyBoard</a></td>
      <td>Piotr Malinski</td>
      <td>GNU GPL</td>
      <td title="demo"><a href="http://www.rkblog.rk.edu.pl">Forum in use</a></td>
      <td title="guest-post">yes <span title="configurable">*</span></td>
      <td title="notify">yes 
        <span title="mail_admins is used / configurable">*</span>
      </td>
      <td title="pre-moderate">no</td>
      <td title="post-moderate">yes</td>
      <td title="comment">not yet</td>
      <td title="forum">yes</td>
      <td title="title">no</td>
      <td title="modify">yes</td>
      <td title="msg-history">no</td>
      <td title="private">no</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td><a href="http://sct.sphene.net/"
             title="Sphene Community Tools">Sphene</a></td>
      <td>Herbert Poul</td>
      <td>BSD</td>
      <td title="demo">
        <a href="http://sct.sphene.net/board/show/14/">anonymous</a>
      </td>
      <td title="guest-post: can be configured (if captchas are enabled, anonymous users have to answer them)">
	yes, with CAPTCHA*
      </td>
      <td title="notify: only registered users">reg *</td>
      <td title="pre-moderate: messages can be set to be hidden from threads and posts views, but an admin UI is missing. Code changes required to make new posts hidden">
	no*
      </td>
      <td title="post-moderate: messages can be 'annotated' – either hiding the original content or adding to it">kind of*
      </td>
      <td title="comment">no</td>
      <td title="forum">yes</td>
      <td title="title">yes</td>
      <td title="modify">yes</td>
      <td title="msg-history">no</td>
      <td title="private">no</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td><a href="http://zyons.com/"
             title="Zyons Community Applications">Zyons</a>(dead link)</td>
      <td>Ian Holsman?</td>
      <td>?</td>
      <td title="demo">?</td>
      <td title="guest-post">?</td>
      <td title="notify">?</td>
      <td title="pre-moderate">?</td>
      <td title="post-moderate">?</td>
      <td title="comment">?</td>
      <td title="forum">?</td>
      <td title="title">?</td>
      <td title="modify">?</td>
      <td title="msg-history">?</td>
      <td title="private">?</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td><a href="http://bitbucket.org/lorien/pybb"
             title="Python Bulletin Board">PyBB</a></td>
      <td><a href="http://lorien.name">Grigoriy Petukhov</a></td>
      <td>BSD</td>
      <td title="demo"><a href="http://pybb.org">Support forum</a></td>
      <td title="guest-post">no</td>
      <td title="notify">no</td>
      <td title="pre-moderate">no</td>
      <td title="post-moderate">yes</td>
      <td title="comment">no</td>
      <td title="forum">yes</td>
      <td title="title">no</td>
      <td title="modify">yes</td>
      <td title="msg-history">no</td>
      <td title="private">no</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td><a href="http://code.google.com/p/django-forumbr/"
             title="PHP-like python forum engine">Django-ForumBR</a></td>
      <td>Italo Maia</td>
      <td>Apache</td>
      <td title="demo"><a href="http://www.italomaia.com/forumbr/">Forum in use</a></td>
      <td title="guest-post">no</td>
      <td title="notify">yes</td>
      <td title="pre-moderate">no</td>
      <td title="post-moderate">yes</td>
      <td title="comment">no</td>
      <td title="forum">yes</td>
      <td title="title">yes</td>
      <td title="modify">yes</td>
      <td title="msg-history">no</td>
      <td title="private">yes</td>
    </tr>

    <tr>
      <td><a href="http://code.google.com/p/django-simpleforum/"
             title="A simple forum application">django-simpleforum</a></td>
      <td>James Pells</td>
      <td>GNU GPL</td>
      <td title="demo">no?</td>
      <td title="guest-post">no</td>
      <td title="notify">no</td>
      <td title="pre-moderate">no</td>
      <td title="post-moderate">yes</td>
      <td title="comment">no</td>
      <td title="forum">yes</td>
      <td title="title">yes</td>
      <td title="modify">no</td>
      <td title="msg-history">no</td>
      <td title="private">no</td>
    </tr>

    <tr>
      <td><a href="http://github.com/fivethreeo/django-mptt-comments/"
             title="A restful comment system using modified preordered tree traversal ala. slashdot">django-mptt-comments</a></td>
      <td>Øyvind Saltvik</td>
      <td>BSD</td>
      <td title="demo">no</td>
      <td title="guest-post">yes</td>
      <td title="notify">no</td>
      <td title="pre-moderate">no</td>
      <td title="post-moderate">no</td>
      <td title="comment">?</td>
      <td title="forum">no</td>
      <td title="title">yes</td>
      <td title="modify">no</td>
      <td title="msg-history">no</td>
      <td title="private">no</td>
    </tr>

    <tr>
      <td><a href="http://github.com/uswaretech/Dinette"
             title="A forum application in the spirit of PunBB">Dinette</a></td>
      <td>Usware Technologies</td>
      <td>BSD, GBL</td>
      <td title="demo"><a href="http://uswaretech.com/forum/">The Usware Forum</a></td>
      <td title="guest-post">no</td>
      <td title="notify">?</td>
      <td title="pre-moderate">?</td>
      <td title="post-moderate">?</td>
      <td title="comment">?</td>
      <td title="forum">yes</td>
      <td title="title">?</td>
      <td title="modify">?</td>
      <td title="msg-history">?</td>
      <td title="private">?</td>
    </tr>

    <tr>
      <td><a href="http://github.com/vicalloy/LBForum"
             title="A simple forum application">LBForum</a></td>
      <td>vicalloy</td>
      <td>BSD</td>
      <td title="demo"><a href="http://vik.haoluobo.com/lbforum/">LBForum</a></td>
      <td title="guest-post">no</td>
      <td title="notify">no</td>
      <td title="pre-moderate">no</td>
      <td title="post-moderate"><span title="in Django admin">yes *</span></td>
      <td title="comment">no</td>
      <td title="forum">yes</td>
      <td title="title">yes</td>
      <td title="modify">no</td>
      <td title="msg-history">no</td>
      <td title="private">no</td>
    </tr>

  </tbody>
  <tfoot>
    <tr>
      <td colspan="6">
        Column headings and * symbols reveal verbose descriptions when the mouse pointer hovers over them.
      </td>
  </tfoot>
</table>
}}}

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This page was originally created by [http://djangopeople.net/akaihola/ akaihola]. There was a [http://groups.google.com/group/django-users/browse_thread/thread/56a6b62aba0c8766 django-users thread] about this page.

=== Comments ===
[http://djangopeople.net/insin Jonathan Buchanan]: django-discussion is not actively maintained or developed at this time (parts of it were extracted into [http://code.google.com/p/django-mptt/ Django MPTT]) – [http://code.google.com/p/django-threadedcomments django-threadedcomments] looks like a more complete and feature-rich implementation of the type of functionality it provided, so I've removed discussion and put threadedcomments in its place. The link to the threadedcomments demo doesn't work

=== To do ===
Ideas for making the [http://djangopackages.com/grids/g/forums/ djangopackages.com forum grid] better:
 * add column for supported Django versions/revisions/branches
 * add "import" column, e.g.: import existing phpBB2 forum data

=== Links ===
 * The [http://djangopackages.com/grids/g/forums/ djangopackages.com forum grid] has replaced this page
 * [ReusableAppResources other resources] for finding and evaluating re-usable apps
 * similar [wiki:CMSAppsComparison comparison of content management apps]